America’s Achilles Heel is race. That’s so obvious that even Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin figured it out.

The roughly 3,500 Facebook ads created by the Russian-based Internet Research Agency “consistently promoted ads designed to inflame race-related tensions. Meanwhile, the world’s biggest birther was calling all but some Mexicans “rapists.”

And it worked. With some help from Putin, James Comey, and Americans’ inability to understand probabilities, we now have a president who has done more to give white supremacists aid and comfort than any White House occupant in the last century and Russia has an apprentice who has done more to shake NATO than any Russian ever has. And when a scam like racism works so well, why would you ever give it up?

We know Donald Trump is never going to give up “identity politics.” Despite trillions in tax breaks, Republicans are going to be talking about MS-13 more than 1040s.

So what can a Party that hasn’t won the white vote since 1964 do? Give up on race and thus the majority of your base, and talk only about class as Trump screams about the NFL?

Activists canvassed 800 homes in Minnesota for an experiment to test which messaging more effectively rebuts a candidate’s classic racial dog whistles arguing for tax cuts and railing against “illegal aliens.” One message was silent about race. The other specifically called race out and noted that the candidate “wants to pit us against each other in order to gain power for himself and kickbacks for his donors.”

The message that confronted race proved more effective at swaying voters. More research needs to be done, but this suggests that the path to transcend racism used as a strategy is through it, not around it.

Causten E. Rodriguez-Wollerman, Director of Partnerships at Demos, joined us this week to discuss this promising research and how to talk race and class in the Trump era.

Author: EclectablogChris Savage is the owner and publisher of Eclectablog, your one-stop shop for progressive state & national political news & commentary.

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Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has admitted to knowing about the poisoning of Flint's drinking water with lead. Despite this, there are STILL Flint residents who cannot drink their tap water without the use of a water filter.

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Mitchell Robinson is associate professor and chair of music education at Michigan State University. His research is focused on music education and education policy. Follow him on Facebook HERE and Twitter at @mrobmsu. His own blog is at MitchellRobinson.net.

Susan J. Demas is a Democratic strategist, serving as vice president at Farough & Associates. She is a 17-year veteran of journalism and a syndicated political columnist for 12 years. She was most recently the editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics. Follow her on Twitter @sjdemas.

Tawana “Honeycomb” Petty is a mother, social justice organizer, youth advocate, poet and author. She was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and is intricately involved in water rights, digital justice and visionary organizing work in Detroit. You can learn more about Tawana "Honeycomb" Petty by visiting honeycombthepoet.com. Follow her on Twitter at @CombsThePoet.

Ammara Ansari is a Masters in Public Policy student at University of Michigan. She is a board member of the Canton Democratic Club and Finance Director for Megan Cavanagh for Supreme Court. Find her on twitter at @AmmaraAnsari16